Saturday 31 March 2018

Review of the day

It’s funny how ‘luck’ seems to go in cycles…

February was just about the best month the service has ever had.
7 winners from 26 tips, suggests that luck was smiling on us (even if it didn’t always feel that, with a further 5 seconds !).

However, the Beast from the East then struck – and as well as the snow, it seems it took away all of the good fortune.

I mentioned yesterday, that I’d managed to tip a horse every Saturday in March, that had traded odds on – and got beaten.
Well, I didn’t manage to do that today – but we did get to see some of the other guises that mis-fortune can appear in !

As you probably picked up from the write-up, I was very keen on Theatre Guide today.
I liked how strong he was in the pre-race market - and therefore couldn’t believe it when he barely lifted a leg at the very first fence and paid the price.

I’m sure he would have gone close if he had jumped round – but alas, you’ll have to take my word on that !

We did have a saver in the race, in the shape of Sego Success – but he wasn’t as strong in the market and ran disappointingly…

There was no obvious reason for his poor effort – I guess they aren’t machines…

Not the best of races…

And yet, arguably not the worst race on the day – at least from the perspective of the tips !

Salmanazar was the other tip on the day – and again, I was reasonably optimistic about his chance.

However, I was feeling far less optimistic, about 2 seconds into the race !

Following a false start, the runners lined up on the tape – but the starter didn’t get things quite right and Salmanzar reared as the tape went up.

Charlie Deutsch nearly came off – and the horse lost at least half a dozen lengths in the incident.

It therefore says much for his ability, that he was only beaten around 4 lengths into second place, at the line.
Again, it’s only possible to imagine how things might have ended if events had panned out differently.

I’ve said it hundred times before – but you always need a bit of luck in this game – and unfortunately, this afternoon illustrated that point perfectly !
As for the Mentions, then not a lot went right for them either !

Turning Gold ran like a horse still feeling the effects of a hard race, a week ago.
That said, the race ended up a bit of a farce, with Eragon de Chaney backed into favouritism – and then gifted a big lead.
He was eventually run down by Malaya – but that kind of thing still leaves a bit of a taste.

Tom Scudamore rode a nice race on Valhalla, leading at a very sedate pace.
It nearly paid off, as well – with both Happy Diva and Adrian du Pont making serious jumping mistakes.
However, both survived – and ultimately were much too good for him.

I’ve no idea how Beau Bay managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory – but he did.
He looked to have the race won jumping the last, but was worn down by Ashoka in the shadows of the post, having touched 1.04 in running (at least I didn’t tip him !)

Finally, Undressed was a massive drifter at Downpatrick, which made little sense.
His SP was 12/1 – but his BSP was over 20 !
It all looked very suspicious when he started at the back of the field – and was soon under pressure.

In fairness, he ran a reasonable race, plugging on into fifth – though without ever looking likely to win.
Again, the race left a bit of a taste…


All in all then, not the best of days – and not the best of weekends.

Hopefully next weekend will be better…

TVB.

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